Ubuntu
xserver-xorg-input-synaptics package

Disable touchpad while typing is not active nor can it be enabled

Bug #1576685 reported by Doug McMahon on 2016-04-29

This bug affects 7 people

	Status	Importance	Assigned to
Ubuntu GNOME	Invalid	Medium	Unassigned
Xenial	Invalid	Undecided	Unassigned
gnome-settings-daemon (Ubuntu)	Invalid	Medium	Unassigned
unity-control-center (Ubuntu)	Invalid	Undecided	Unassigned
xserver-xorg-input-synaptics (Ubuntu)	Invalid	Undecided	Unassigned

Bug Description

It's no longer working by default nor can it be enabled thru syndaemon.
It does appear it can be enabled thru libinput (xserver-xorg-input-libinput), (not default installed), however System Settings > Mouse & Touchpad does not interface with xserver-xorg-input-libinput so installing it removes any & all touchpad settings.

Is there anyway to restore this via syndaemon or allow xserver-xorg-input-libinput & system settings ... to work together & present touchpad settings to users?
This represents a regression to users that shouldn't be happening in an lts release.

The 'working' method in libinput requires adding to /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/90-libinput.conf a line Option "DisableWhileTyping" "true" ie. -

Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "libinput touchpad catchall"
        MatchIsTouchpad "on"
        MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
        Driver "libinput"
Option "DisableWhileTyping" "true"
EndSection

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: xserver-xorg-input-synaptics 1.8.2-1ubuntu3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-21.37-generic 4.4.6
Uname: Linux 4.4.0-21-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Fri Apr 29 09:08:56 2016
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: xenial
DistroVariant: ubuntu
InstallationDate: Installed on 2016-04-26 (2 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 16.04 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Release amd64 (20160420.1)
MachineType: HP HP Pavilion Notebook
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-21-generic.efi.signed root=UUID=92e9d325-bf8c-4f8e-ac29-c469ad75d0a4 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: xserver-xorg-input-synaptics
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 09/22/2015
dmi.bios.vendor: Insyde
dmi.bios.version: F.54
dmi.board.asset.tag: Type2 - Board Asset Tag
dmi.board.name: 80A4
dmi.board.vendor: HP
dmi.board.version: 91.19
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: HP
dmi.chassis.version: Chassis Version
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnInsyde:bvrF.54:bd09/22/2015:svnHP:pnHPPavilionNotebook:pvrType1ProductConfigId:rvnHP:rn80A4:rvr91.19:cvnHP:ct10:cvrChassisVersion:
dmi.product.name: HP Pavilion Notebook
dmi.product.version: Type1ProductConfigId
dmi.sys.vendor: HP
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.12.2+16.04.20160415-0ubuntu1
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.67-1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 11.2.0-1ubuntu2
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 11.2.0-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.18.3-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.10.1-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:7.7.0-1
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.917+git20160325-1ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.12-1build2
xserver.bootTime: Fri Apr 29 06:51:34 2016
xserver.configfile: default
xserver.errors:

xserver.logfile: /var/log/Xorg.0.log
xserver.outputs:
product id 1203
vendor LGD
xserver.version: 2:1.18.3-1ubuntu2

See original description

Tags:

Revision history for this message

Doug McMahon (mc3man) wrote on 2016-04-29:

BootLog.txt Edit (4.7 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
CurrentDmesg.txt Edit (175.9 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
Dependencies.txt Edit (3.8 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
DpkgLog.txt Edit (1.4 MiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
JournalErrors.txt Edit (131.1 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
Lspci.txt Edit (12.9 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
Lsusb.txt Edit (361 bytes, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
ProcCpuinfo.txt Edit (4.4 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
ProcEnviron.txt Edit (112 bytes, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
ProcInterrupts.txt Edit (3.0 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
ProcModules.txt Edit (6.8 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
UdevDb.txt Edit (170.9 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
XorgLog.txt Edit (27.3 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
XorgLogOld.txt Edit (27.9 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
xinput.txt Edit (1.1 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
xserver.devices.txt Edit (568 bytes, text/plain; charset="utf-8")

tags:

added: yakkety

Doug McMahon (mc3man) on 2016-05-02

description:	updated
summary:	- Disable touchpad while typing is not active nor can be enabled + Disable touchpad while typing is not active nor can it be enabled

Revision history for this message

Tim Lunn (darkxst) wrote on 2016-05-02:

The setting in gnome-control-center was removed since the setting was changed to be default to always active. Its certainly working on my laptop however I had xserver-xorg-input-libinput installed (but no changes to config files).

3.20 removed evdev/synaptics support completely in favour of libinput, however I thought 3.18 has support for both. Switching the input backend post-release seems like a pretty invasive change, unless everything is completely broken?

Revision history for this message

Tim Lunn (darkxst) wrote on 2016-05-02:

Possibly related to this commit.

commit b23917f0a279aba4599cdc7a5b34055f3d8975ba
Author: Ondrej Holy <email address hidden>
Date: Wed Apr 8 12:39:48 2015 +0200

mouse: Do not disable touchpad buttons

    Touchpad buttons are disabled also if touchpad is disabled using
    "Device Enabled" property. Unfortunately some touchpads share those
    buttons with trackpoint, which is consequently unusable. Disable
    touchpad using "Synaptics Off" property instead to avoid disabling
    the buttons.

Remove also some redundant calls to enable/disable touchpad and
make sure syndaemon isn't running if the touchpads are disabled.

https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=747504

affects:	gnome-control-center (Ubuntu) → gnome-settings-daemon (Ubuntu)
Changed in ubuntu-gnome:
status:	New → Triaged
importance:	Undecided → Medium
Changed in gnome-settings-daemon (Ubuntu):
status:	New → Triaged
importance:	Undecided → Medium

Revision history for this message

Tim Lunn (darkxst) wrote on 2016-05-02:

However at least on my laptop it is still falling back to using syndaemon. That is launched with "-t" option and has been since 2012.

commit c1b2b478ec71b907e4af736d62c1a81ad400f902
Author: Bastien Nocera <email address hidden>
Date: Mon Jun 18 11:51:09 2012 +0100

mouse: Only inhibits mouse clicks and scrolls with syndaemon

Not mouse movements.

https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=673055

Revision history for this message

Tim Lunn (darkxst) wrote on 2016-05-02:

I didnt see that you are using Unity. u-s-d also launches syndaemon with the "-t" option, which means motion won't be disabled, just clicking and scrolling. Perhaps the "Synaptics Off" patch would help, atleast on supported hardware.

I am not sure that Unity7 has been ported to use libinput, I suspect not and clearly that would not be an option for LTS.

Changed in gnome-settings-daemon (Ubuntu):
status:	Triaged → Invalid

Revision history for this message

Doug McMahon (mc3man) wrote on 2016-05-02:

Hmm, sorry about this (I think
A number of users were complaining about this but it turns out it was more about cursor movement than clicks
(or so combo of the cursor moving then a click on new position after timeout.
In any event it was never intended to prevent cursor movement while typing

So marking all invalid.

Changed in unity-control-center (Ubuntu):
status:	New → Invalid
Changed in xserver-xorg-input-synaptics (Ubuntu):
status:	New → Invalid
Changed in ubuntu-gnome:
status:	Triaged → Invalid

Revision history for this message

aminorex (aklp) wrote on 2017-02-06:

If you search the web on this topic you will find that hundreds of people have been perplexed by this behaviour for over a decade, patches have been supplied upstream, and yet the problem persists: There is no control evident which allows one to select the widely desired behaviour, i.e. to prevent unwanted pointer inputs while typing. A more aggressive approach to resolving such a wide spread and severe usability issue seems warranted, and the question suggests itself: If not here, then where?

Revision history for this message

Anders Hall (a.hall) wrote on 2017-06-15:

Hi, the synaptics (libinput also installed) package work well for me in 16.04 (and previous version to 12.04 at least) up to 17.04 on thinkpads (x2XX to carbon X1). Currently using carbon x1 5th gen. There is however some form of instability with settings that affects many users including me.

Sometimes the disable while typing feature stops working and reinstall of libinput and synaptics drivers help. I.e, reinstall xserver-xorg-input-synaptics and -libinput as well as running:

gconftool-2 --set --type boolean /desktop/gnome/peripherals/touchpad/touchpad_enabled true
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SynapticsTouchpad#Touchpad_not_working_after_login

However, what perplexes me is that the gnome desktop (gnome default) does not work with synaptics disable while typing when it clearly works in unity at the same time. I'm testing gnome before 18.04 and login in/out between both desktops, with the exact same settings (gconf, drivers etc).

Currently I'm writing this in gnome and the cursor skips with random artefacts that make the keyboard defunct. In unity it works perfectly (two finger scroll, trackpoint etc works).

Related:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-input-evdev/+bug/1687191

Revision history for this message

Anders Hall (a.hall) wrote on 2017-06-15:

FYI: got a better experience in gnome when opening a terminal and running syndaemon -d in gnome. However, that seem to freeze the mouse slightly too long after I have stopped typing. The unity version works better (not sure what differs yet).

https://askubuntu.com/questions/505007/ubuntu-gnome-14-04-disable-touchpad-while-typing-not-working